Electric circuit terminal structure



June 2, 1936. J. D. NOYES ELECTRIC CIRCUIT TERMINAL STRUCTURE Filed Sept. 13, 1932 INVENTOR um ATTORNEYS Patented June 2, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE John D. Noyes, Detroit, Mich., assignor to The Detroit Edison Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of New York Application September 13, 1932, Serial No. 632,981

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improved means for compactly and conveniently effecting the necessary connection between electrical circuit terminals, such as the various selected points in a 5 house or other building, for the emergence of the ordinary wiring, and of the service terminals chosen for installation at the points in question, and has for its object an improved organization of parts, by means of which the now generally used though cumbersome and needlessly large boxes may be dispensed with in favor of a much less expensive, more compact and more readily installable terminal connection, which may be made at practically whatever stage of the build- 5 ings construction, early or late, may be selected.

As already stated, present practice very frequently involves the use of a needlessly large metal journal box which must be installed in the building while such roughing-in steps as the lath- 20 ing and plastering are in progress, and through selected apertures in the walls whereof the ends of the wiring intended for that location are drawn and there connected to fixed terminals, to others of which ultimate service parts, such as a fixture 25 bar, or a switch or lamp connection outlet, are

connected at a later stage in the buildings development. This not only involves limitations as to the size and available space for such a box, but as Well leaves the connection between its included 30 parts and the cable ends, splicings or the like, subject to injury during the completion steps of the buildings construction, such, for example, as the careless striking against the effected connections of lumber pieces, unnoticed shorting of the 35 connections thus established, by carelessly handled soft plaster, and the like.

In my improved construction, by. contrast with this, all that it is necessary to install during the rough finishing work, are the wiring or cable ter- 40 minals ultimately intended for attachment to power-delivery outlets; these may if desired be left unscraped, that is, with their insulating coverings extending to the extreme end. At selected points, and at any time during the buildings con- 45 struction up to the time of plastering, there may, if desired, be positioned upon the structural pieces adjacent to these circuit ends a suitable supporting means such as, for example, a skeleton or fabricated plate cable of a variety of contourings,

50 or even a pair of cross bars which have little to do with the present invention, and which even if plaster masses have been allowed to become adhered thereto, during the roughing-in structure, can easily be scraped off when the final in- 55 stallation of the service parts appurtenant to the power wire terminals is undertaken. Through this plate the loose and then unconnected cable terminals are loosely drawn. The unusual efficiency of the enclosures of such terminals as 60 must to a certain degree be exposed by my preferred form of finishing structure, together with the ease of assemblage thereof with its service terminal parts suitably exposed, and the positioning of the completed article upon the bracket or supporting plate, renders my invention decidedly 5 superior to what has been previously looked upon as a standard and necessary in this art.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective of the preferred form of shaped plate or bracket with my improved 10 terminal housing shown in adjacent relation thereto, after the exposed power wire terminals have been connected to it, but before installation upon the bracket flanges.

Figure 2 is a similar perspective showing the 15 terminal-housing-block in place with respect to the supporting plate.

Figure 3 is an elevational view of a pair of ad jacently located structural uprights between which extend a pair of angle bars or equivalent elements to which the projecting ear portions of my improved terminal structure may be secured.

Figure 4 is a two-part assembly view showing the adjacent faces of the insulating blocks which when assembled form the service terminal connection desired, designed to bring out the internal grooves, the position of the wire-anchoring element, and the like.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, A represents a structural or building upright, to which is attached by any desired means, as by example, screws B, a selectively flanged plate or bracket piece C.

In the form shown, this comprises as well an angular web D and a supplemental attaching web D preferably at about right angles to the plane of the plate C, so that the parts D and the screw-traversed end C of the plate C can snugly fit about the intersecting faces of the upright A. This plate being at no time designed for any direct electrical connections, can be installed during the roughing-in stages of a buildings construction with comparative unconcern as to whether it is spattered with adherent soft plaster during the later construction stages, in the same manner as the similar spattering of the outside armoring of the electric supply cables, as E and F, is a matter of unconcern. These ends are, during the early construction stages, merely drawn through the space C through the flange-surrounded space in the plate C and left thus until the installation is desired.

G and H represent the complementary parts, preferably of bakelite or some other non-conducting material, with one of which is integrated during its formation stages, the desired service terminals, as P and R, such as a switch, fixture bar, or blade socket units, a double one being here shown, so that the service or exposed face thereof is, in the assembled device, made to face 0 outwardly into the room, while its rearward or interior terminals extend to the other face of one of the blocks as H, adjacent one of the formed grooves as J, within which is adapted to be positioned the then scraped or exposed ends of the supply circuit wires E and F of which any desired number may be provided for, depending upon the number of service terminals which are desired. The removal of the insulating covering from these latter is not carried so far back from the ends thereof as to leave any of the scraped portion of the wires outside of the block-enclosed space. In other words, the insulating covering of each wire is carried to about the joint J within the body of the block. The companion block as G, is complementarily grooved, as at K, so that, cooperatively with the grooves J in the block H, there are formed passages in the assembled block GH of just adequate size to surround the entering insulated wires E and F. And in one of these bakelite blocks, as for example H, there are preferably also embedded, during the fabrication thereof, anchorage elements, as L, designed, when the blocks are drawn into juxtaposition, to clampingly seize the exposed or scraped ends of the power wires, so as to prevent their withdrawal even when considerable pull is exerted lengthwise thereof. Also in one of the blocks, as H, there are integratedly located during its plastic or formation period, a pair of clips or perforated ear pieces M, which project from each end of the block H and of the block structures GH as assembled.

With the rough structural work of the building fully completed, the selection and installation of the particular service terminal desired may then be proceeded with by merely scraping the ends of the power wires E and F, and connecting them to one or the other of the then exposed terminals of the part P, located on the interior face of the block H. Thereafter, the block G is positioned thereover and the two parts structurally correlated by some such means as the screws N passing through registering bores in the blocks G and E. This operation occurs within a very few inches of the plate C; depending upon the length of the projecting supply circuit cables E. and F. As soon as the assembly of the block GH is completed, whatever loose length of the cables E and F is available is then pushed back into the wall space through the space C and the assembled block GH installed in that space with its clips or earpieces M registering with cooperatively over-bent flanges, as Q, which are merely a part of the web of the plate C struck up and over-bent to permit the formation of the cut-away space C No further wire connections are needed, the device is strikingly compact, the installation of the exposed terminals of the supply circuit wires E and F is adequate, both as regards each other and as regards trouble-making access from without, and yet the assembled bakelite structure GH is removable with the same facility as was its installation, and occupies but a minimum space; and similarly, if a change from the first used connector or service terminal is thereafter desired, as for example, from a fixture bar to a manually operable switch or the like, the substitution may be easily made without disturbance of the other parts.

Since my invention centers about the composite block GH and its contained parts, it will be obvious that the particular form of the supporting bracket is a relatively minor matter. Indeed for this part there may be substituted some such construction as the angle bars X shown in Figure 3 as attached at their ends to the structural uprights Y and Z, at such distance from 5 one another as to permit the attachment to them of the adjacent projecting ears M on the insulating block. Even this much of a special supporting structure may be dispensed with if it be desired to attach these supporting ears directly to a beam upright or other structural piece.

It is also worthy of mention that in Figure 3 but one service or outlet terminal, as V, is shown and, correspondingly, but one electric circuit terminal, as E, whereas in Figures 1, 2, and 4 double outlet terminals P and R are shown, served respectively by the circuit terminals E and F, as already mentioned.

As to either form, provision is made, as for example by the provision of screw holes as W, for the attachment if desired over the exposed surface of the composite block GH and its contained terminals, of a finishing or wall surface plate flush with the surface of the plaster.

What Iclaim is:

1. Flush type electric wiring apparatus for connection to flexible armoured cable adapted for mounting in a wall and support by a bracket attached to a structural building member and having a plurality of angularly disposed flanges providing a substantially rectangular walled opening for said apparatus, the combination of an insulating receptacle block having front and rear vertical sides, electric service means mounted within said block and being available from the front side thereof, terminals recessed in the rear side of said block for electrical connection to said cable, said block being channelled from one edge to the terminal recess, a second or cover block having one face correspondingly channelled whereby a close fitting passage is provided for the cable armour when the blocks are secured together, means straddling the channel in the first block to grip the cable when the blocks are secured together, means for securing said blocks together and means on the first block for attachment to said bracket.

2. Flush type electric wiring apparatus for connection to flexible armoured cable adapted for mounting in a wall and support by a bracket attached to a structural building member and having a plurality of angularly disposed flanges providing a substantially rectangular walled opening for said apparatus, the combination of an insulating receptacle block having front and rear vertical sides, electric service means mounted within said block and being available from the front side thereof, terminals recessed in the rear side of said block for electrical connection to said cable, said block being channelled from one edge to the terminal recess, a second or cover block adapted to fit against the rear face of the first block and having its engaging face correspondingly channelled to provide a close fitting passage for the cable armour, a metal strap strad- (35 dling the channel in the first block to grip the cable when the blocks are secured together, screws for fastening said blocks together and to provide the gripping force for said strap, the second block being suitably recessed for said strap whereby the blocks fit closely together to shield the said terminals and cable end.

JOHN D. NOYES. 

